Music Respawn! Tom Salta: Giving Back To The Game Composers' Community

At this year's ASCAP Composers' Choice Awards, Tom Salta and Klayton (AKA Atlas Plug and Celldweller) were co-winners of Video Game Score of the Year forKiller Instinct, Season 3! Tom says working with Celldweller was a fun process that gave them a chance to create music for some of Season 3's new characters.

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Kate's conversation with Tom

Mostly Tom and Klayton worked together from their separate studios, but they also got together for fun to create a fresh sound for one of the game's legacy characters, Eyedol.

Tom's dream came true when he was asked to update music for the iconic Halo: Combat Evolved, and Halo 2: Anniversary. That deconstruction of what makes the signature sound of Halo's music gave him a great background for the music for further Halo releases, including Halo: Spartan Strike.

While composing keeps him incredibly busy, Tom finds ways to give back to the game composers' community, including serving on the board of the Game Audio Network Guild, and encouraging young composers. As he says, "I want to be the guy that I wish I had heard when I was just starting out!"

Tom will be joining me for an informal discussion about his career and music, along with Bryan Doyle, conductor of the Norwalk Gamers' Symphony Orchestra, at Ridgefield Library's RidgeCon, Friday, August 11 6:30 p.m.

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